Bowling Green's Julie Swack swims in the 200-yard freestyle during the U.S. Masters Swimming National Championships on June 21 at the IU Natatorium in Indianapolis.

Bowling Green’s Julie Swack is always looking for the next goal in swimming.

Having that end in sight provides the motivation needed to keep putting in the work to reach that ultimate goal.

That’s what Swack had in mind when she targeted swimming in the U.S. Masters Swimming 2024 Spring National Championships held last month in Indianapolis. Over the four-day competition (June 20-24) held at the IU Natatorium, Swack competed in a pair of relays and three individual events while representing Swim Kentucky (SKY) at the meet.

“I guess to challenge myself and give me something to work toward,” Swack said. “If I just go to the pool and swim laps … I don’t know, it doesn’t seem like it’s accomplishing much. So I have a goal to work toward that challenges me and makes me work harder and benefit from swimming and lifting weights. Because as you age, you lose muscle and I don’t want to lose muscle.”

Having just turned 60, Swack was competing in the 60-64 division for the first time. After opening the meet by swimming the freestyle anchor leg in an individual medley, Swack followed with a pair of individual events the following day — the 100-yard individual medley, which she finished in 2 minutes, 10.75 seconds, and the 200 freestyle (3:51.18).

Swack completed her competition by swimming in the 50 backstroke (49.48 seconds) and swimming a leg on SKY’s 200 free relay.

Swack, who swims locally with the Western Kentucky Green Gators, last swam at the U.S. Masters Swimming spring national championship six years ago — the last time it was held in Indianapolis.

“Spring nationals is held at different locations and this just happened to be the closest one, so I took advantage of that,” Swack said. “It’s normally held in April or May, but they wanted it to coincide with the Olympic Trials so people could swim in the meet and also go to the Trials.”

Swack said the U.S. Olympic Swim Team Trials held at Lucas Oil Stadium was within walking distance of the IU Natatorium, and the meets overlapped for the final weekend of the Trials to give the Masters swimmers a chance to attend.

Swack was among those who did just that, taking in some world-class swimming — a highlight was seeing U.S. Olympic hopefuls Adam Chaney and Jonny Kulow engage in a pair of swim-offs in the 50-meter freestyle after both clocked identical times of 21.79 twice before Kulow won the third matchup with a time of 21.81.

“That was really neat,” Swack said. “Our seats were kind of far away, but they were good. It was just so big, just really exciting with the announcer and the music and the lights. It was really something.”

Swack next plans to take part in the Bowling Green Sprint Triathlon at Russell Sims Aquatic Center. Swack will take care of the swimming portion of the triathlon relay event, with her husband handling the cycling and a friend doing the run portion of the competition.

As for swim-specific competition, Swack hasn’t settled on her next big target yet.

“There’s probably just a handful of other adults in Bowling Green who actually swim to swim in meets,” Swack said. ” … I swim about four hours a week. It doesn’t sound like much, but I don’t have a coach. And then I lift weights probably about two hours a week.”